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Questions Rise From the Dust of an Old Synagogue

The demolition of a 150-year-old synagogue on the Lower East Side is generating widespread criticism among preservationists, who say that one of the city's historic religious buildings has been lost because too little was done to save it.

By yesterday, much of the synagogue, the First Roumanian-American Congregation, on Rivington Street between Orchard and Ludlow Streets, had been reduced to rubble. Its arched Romanesque entry was gone, and only the rear wall, adorned with richly ornamented stained glass, provided evidence of what had been a grand sanctuary once renowned as the Cantors' Carnegie Hall.

City officials said the demolition was legal. The synagogue's roof collapsed in late January, and permits were issued on Wednesday by the Department of Buildings to take down what remained of the synagogue because it posed a safety hazard.

But in the weeks since the roof collapsed, apparently ensuring the building's demolition, preservationists have recounted a litany of miscues and failed efforts to help shore up the sagging building, which flourished during the waves of 19th-century Jewish immigration but whose congregation and finances have dwindled in recent years.

In the end, the building was not given landmark protection. Now, according to zoning rules, it could be replaced with something far larger in a neighborhood that is rapidly being transformed by fashionable restaurants, shops and luxury housing.

If nothing else, the wreckage on Rivington Street provides a cautionary tale, said Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy. "People don't come out of rabbinical school or seminary with a lot of course work in building maintenance," she said. "It is a shame there are not more sources of funding to help."

But she said leaders of the congregation had refused offers of help, including one of up to $10,000 from the conservancy and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The money would have been designated for engineering work to determine whether the roof could be replaced.

"They just said, 'No, we have our own engineer,' " said Holly Kaye, a consultant to the Lower East Side Conservancy, who delivered the offer. She said the congregation, through a former rabbi, turned down an offer of $280,000 in 1997 from the state's Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to help shore up the roof, which was already at risk of collapse then.

The congregation's rabbi, Shmuel Spiegel, has said the building needed such extensive repairs that even with the financial help, the congregation could not afford to fix it.

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In an interview yesterday, Rabbi Spiegel said the congregation had determined that little could be salvaged. The synagogue's Torahs were safely removed after the roof collapse, and yesterday he said that specialists were being sought to remove the ark, which had escaped damage.

He said the cost of removing just the ark, a stately fixture in the sanctuary that had protected the Torahs, could be more than $30,000 and stretch the congregation's finances. "Our objective is to preserve what we can," he said.

Rabbi Spiegel repeated a commitment that he had made after the roof collapse, when he said the congregation would remain on Rivington Street. He said it would rebuild on the same site.

He declined, however, to discuss the size or shape of a new building, which could be far larger than the old synagogue and designed for more than a single use, according to city zoning rules. The 70-by-100-foot site would be suitable for a 12-story building without any zoning changes under the city's current rules.

But the city is expected to rule within a year on a proposal to reduce the scale of new development in the neighborhood, responding to widespread fears of overdevelopment.

Building inspectors who responded to the collapse issued a citation to the congregation for failure to maintain the roof. A hearing on the charge has been scheduled for Thursday, but city officials said yesterday that such citations were routine when buildings collapse partly or completely.

Ilyse Fink, a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, said the charge could be dropped because the demolition had removed safety hazards from the site. The most severe penalty, she said, would be a fine.

As for the future of the site, Rabbi Spiegel said, "I can't tell you what the future will hold."

"People have been saying for years it could be something bigger," he said. "What the reality is, we will have to see."